Our story

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” We heard those words growing up, and for some reason they stayed.

It is with a feeling for seva — selfless service — that we launched Uplift-You. We had tried charity and donating money, and still felt dissatisfied. God and life have been kind; a time came when we had more free hours, and it was time to walk the talk.

We created Uplift-You as a way to give back to our communities. We intend to teach people to fish, so that our students can feed themselves for a lifetime.

Co-founders

Co-founder

Dinesh Gulati

“Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard. Combine the two, and you are an all-star.”

Dinesh came to the United States in 1985 for college at SUNY Stony Brook, graduating in computer science with a minor in business management. After JP Morgan and Sbarro, he started the technology consulting and IT staffing firm IIT Inc. in 1995 — a business that has since helped create several thousand high-paying professional jobs and made the Inc. 500 list multiple times.

For more than twenty years he has personally mentored and trained hundreds of people in technology, finance, sales, recruiting, job search and career counseling. Away from work he practises yoga, grows organic vegetables, cooks, follows baseball and cricket, sings Bollywood karaoke, and is writing his own interpretation of Zen-Yoga by Dr. P. J. Saher.

Co-founder

Anu Kumar

“Between nothing and everything, I found seva.”

Anu came to the United States in 1991 and graduated from the University of West Florida with a degree in mathematics. She spent over twenty years in procurement and supply chain management with Lucent/AT&T, MetLife, Quest Diagnostics and Adecco, before joining IIT in an executive leadership role. She also runs her own staffing and payrolling company.

Both of Anu's parents spent their careers as college professors at Benares Hindu University. Coming from that background, she began tutoring K-5 children on Long Island who were struggling with English, science and math — work she has found deeply rewarding — and built the training curriculum for new hires at IIT. She paints on canvas, practises yoga, sang for fifteen years of vocal training, and is rarely far from a book.

Come and learn

Every class is free. All we ask is your commitment, and a promise to help two people when your own time comes.

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